by Nelly Asher
***
Silver unglued her eyelids and blinked a few times. Everything was blurry. Squinting, Selena realized that there's a hand lying before her eyes. It seems to be hers. Seems to be the right one. Yes, that's certainly her right arm – its fingers are clinging to the revolver. So, she's lying on the floor on her stomach. That's why her body felt so stiff. Silver almost didn't feel her left hand – she was lying on it all that time, and the hand went completely numb. Selena rised a bit, but lost her balance and fell, hitting the floor with her chin. On the second attempt, she managed to take a sitting position. Her left hand was dangling like a noodle; the right one was sqeezing the weapon.
The girl looked around, trying to figure out where she is. Wooden floor. High ceiling. Walls. There's a door with some plate in one of the walls, and the Memory Screen. No Shwuggering Shmug or his secretaries in sight. A toppled cage lies nearby. Behind it, there's a body in yellow dress, lying in an unnatural pose. And here's Pervert, lying on his back with his pants unzipped, but not lowered. Selena didn't see blood, or anything else, fortunately. So, she made it in time after all... She looked at Gold with a smirk.
Meahwhile, Gelia pulled her limbs up to her body and slowly rose to her feet. Her face was creased, tanned skin looked flabby. Gold stepped towards Finkey, barely keeping her balance. It felt like her knees are about to bend in the opposite direction.
“Your breasts are even saggier than your dress,” Silver muttered.
Without a word, Gelia raised her right hand, obviously trying to show her twin a middle finger with the gunhand barrel. Even this gesture was hard for her to make, and the dangling left hand didn't obey her at all. The girl limped up to Finkerl and collapsed on him. Gold bit his chin a few times, trying to bring him back to consciousness. The second he blinked and moved, Gelia pressed her lips to his.
Selena noticed some reddish scraps scattered around. One of them was right before her. She took a closer look and shrieked – those were two fingers, shrunk like deflated balloons, connected with a small piece of skin. Silver rolled her eyes, not knowing where to look – pieces of Shmug are all over the place, and like that wasn't enough, there's this couple smooching.
Gelia threw herself at Pervert with an unexpected affection. After a few moments of barely touching his lips, she wrapped her arms around Finkey's neck and began kissing him so hard like she spent a week in a desert, and Finkey's mouth was the source of water. The man also embraced her, his plump hands slowly stroking her back.
Silver couldn't help but notice that Gelia's body gets slightly better with each passing second. Her skin wasn't flabby any more, arms and legs looked healthy again. She recalled her double's words: there's nothing between her and Pervert, he just blows her sometimes. So, does this mean she can also blow up? And it was possible to inflate Shmug the same way, if there was someone non-squeamish enough with a death wish? Is everybody here a balloon? Selena felt her own head swelling from all those thoughts.
Finally having enough, Gelia pushed Finkey away with a renewed strength and sprang to her feet. Selena, already more or less recovered, also got up.
“And you're somewhat smarter than I thought you were,” Gelia said with her usual grin.
“If we look the same, it doesn't mean I'm as dumb as you,” Selena muttered.
“But your biggest trouble is only about to start – and it will never end. You know, there are things above you... And then, there are things below you. And soon there will be a lot of those things. You will get what you were dreaming about for so long,” she grabbed Silver by her left wrist and exclaimed: “Eternal freedom!..”
Selena tried to wrest her hand away, but Gelia was holding tight. Selena didn't hear parquet starting to drop in a meter behind her – it was flying down silently, without hitting anything. The hole was quickly widening. Before the girl knew it, she was hanging in the air, held by Gold's firm grip. She glanced down and gasped in horror. Below, there was the book well – like before, only about ten shelves were visible, everything else was shrouded in fog. But Selena knew how deep it is... Though, come to think of it, no, she actually had no idea. It might as well be bottomless.
“The freedom of falling,” her twin finished. “You've got so far... But what's the point if you didn't understand anything, didn't learn any lesson?” Gelia was lying on the edge of the hole, clutching at Selena's wrist. “Do you really want to throw away everything you've been working on? What is your choice?”
“Get me out of here!” Selena shouted, wincing in pain. She tried to tuck the revolver into her shorts to free her right hand, but realized that it will fall out. It seemed like H-32 has glued itself to her palm, and the girl felt that if she will dump it, it will be like tearing off a piece of herself. Silver tried to shake that stupid feeling off, but her twin didn't leave her any time for pondering:
“That's what I thought,” Gold said with a spiteful smile, loosening her grip. “You know, there are things we deeply hate, but still cling to. But sometimes you just have to... let go,” she unclenched her fingers. Selena screamed, falling down. “Loser! You've never managed to live properly!” Gelia yelled into the fog. “And now you won't even properly die!”
Silver didn't hear her. Books around her were flashing faster and faster, but the dense fog a few meters above and below her seemed completely still. Fear almost disappered; she only felt the dizzying, tickling sensation of flying. Eventually she'll smash anyway, so she might as well enjoy the moments there are left. But what if this well is indeed bottobless? Selena glanced at the gun. If she'll get sick of falling, she could finish it any second. But for now... Her body relaxed, except for the right hand that was holding the weapon. Selena closed her eyes. After looking at kaleidoscope of books, Silver now saw some flashing bright spots – it felt like she was bathing in a rainbow, free from all the earthly sorrows and restrictions, even from the weight of her own body. This feeling was so wonderful that she could revel in it for hours on end, but at some point she slightly opened her eyes – and they immediately widened in terror.
The fog disappeared. Far below, where the well shrunk to the size of a coin, she could see the bottom. And it was rapidly approaching.
Selena keenly sensed every cell in her body, vividly imagining them all being mashed. Dammit, why did she ever open her eyes right now?! She would've kicked the bucket in blissful ignorance... And it's not even certain that the death will be instant. There were only a few seconds of falling left, and Silver didn't hesitate this time – she put the gun to her temple and pulled the trigger with a steady hand.
There was nothing but a quiet click. It was the turn of that spent cartridge that was used sometime in the past. Pure, wild, blood-curdling despair stroke her like a lightning bolt.
Selena closed her eyes again.
